Incentives for the identification and treatment of children with disabilities: the supplemental security income program

This paper examines how Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit availability and generosity affect the probability that families identify health problems in their children and move onto the SSI rolls. First, I observe that a liberalization of SSI eligibility in 1990 was followed by a substantial re-evaluation of the health status of low-income children by their parents. Then, I find that increases in SSI benefits raise the likelihood that a family identifies a chronic impairment in their child. My results indicate that cash assistance targeted on children with disabilities promotes the detection and treatment of medical problems in low-income children.